Surprise: Walking In a Group Confers Benefits

It is reassuring when science and research confirm the obvious. Reuters writer Shereen Lehman reports that a total of 42 studies conducted since 1980 have all affirmed that walking with a social group is good for one’s health.

“Walking groups are increasingly popular, but until now we have not known if there are wider health benefits from walking groups, apart from increasing physical activity, ” Sarah Hanson, the co-author of one of the studies, told Reuters Health.

Hanson, a researcher with the Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia in United Kingdom, said, “We would love to see walking groups more widely recommended by physicians, health trainers and nurses.” She argues that walking groups are more than just a leisure activity; they have many health benefits, including psychological as well as physical.

Another supporter of walking groups is Gunther Neumayr, M.D. whose research has found similar benefits from hiking. Neumayr, from Lienz, Austria told Reuters that “Humans were selected for motion and not for inactivity—inactivity makes us ill.” He regards walking as being an exercise that can be performed by everyone. “Walking and hiking are the original forms of motion and should be more recommended by public health campaigns to face this epidemic of inactivity, ” he said.